Mill Pond
- +Two grade letters higher (C → A)
- +Lower phosphorus (8.3 vs 35.4 µg/L)
5 higher-graded lakes within 30 miles, ranked by grade improvement and proximity.
Pond Known by Vtdec As Goulds carries a Grade C (Fair) water quality score. Within 30 miles, 5 lakes hold a higher grade. Mill Pond (Windsor County, Grade A, 14 mi away) is the closest meaningful upgrade.
5 cleaner lakes sit within 30 miles of Pond Known by Vtdec As Goulds in the EPA water-quality dataset. With that many higher-grade neighbors close by, Pond Known by Vtdec As Goulds's Grade C reflects something specific to the lake itself — not a regional water-quality ceiling. The neighbor list below isn't a small set of marginal upgrades; it's a real cohort of meaningfully cleaner choices for the same Vermont weekend.
Mill Pond (Windsor County, Grade A) is the closest cleaner option at 14 miles from Pond Known by Vtdec As Goulds — close enough to be a genuine substitute for most users, far enough that it isn't the same neighborhood lake. Worth the trip if water quality is the primary driver; less obvious if Pond Known by Vtdec As Goulds is on the way to other plans.
The EPA water-quality grading combines clarity (Secchi depth), phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a measurements from state environmental sampling. A higher letter grade reflects measurably cleaner water on those indicators, not subjective beauty or access quality — a Grade A lake might have worse boat-launch facilities or shoreline access than a Grade C neighbor, so the ranking is one input alongside the rest of trip planning. See the methodology page for the full grading formula.
Every lake on LakeQuality has a calculated grade from EPA Water Quality Portal samples — secchi depth, total phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a measured against Metropolitan Council thresholds. To suggest cleaner alternatives, we filter lakes within 30 miles to those with a strictly higher numeric score, then rank by grade improvement with a small proximity tiebreak. Cross-state and limited-data lakes are excluded so the list stays locally relevant.